What a Week!

It has been a crazy week and a half since I last checked in and there is much to say.  It seems that things happen in bursts in my life.  Periods of nothing followed by so much action I am left spinning. Anyways, I am not complaining.

Let's start from the top.  Last week I attended the 4th Cree School Board Symposium in Montreal! It was a board-wide event, all teachers, department heads, resource teachers, most administration and countless others attended.  It was quite an event and to the untrained eye, appeared to go off without a hitch! We signed up for 4 seminars, 2 on each day.  There were a number of very interesting seminars to choose from, some presented by teachers, some by outside consultants, but overall lots to learn about and participate in.  I picked some great seminars (one facilitated by my very own friends Marsha and Monika on early primary Guided Reading strategies) and actually learned a lot!! Not often do you find yourself at mandatory conferences and take a lot of valuable knowledge home with you (in my personal experience anyways) so this was great.

Paul Martin was one of the keynote speakers!! Inspiring and motivating. 

The whole CSB!

Chatty translators behind us. 

Superstars

It was also great to be in one place with all the other teachers of the Cree School Board!  Since we all live so far away from each other, we rarely get a chance to meet in person.  I got to meet so many people I knew or knew of but had not met in person, (Luanna if you see this I couldn't find you on facebook so add me!! Aidan Morgan!!!) so that was really cool.  It was great to connect with other professionals in the field who could relate to northern teaching and share ideas with.  Super cool.  I feel very lucky to have been a part of the event and I took a lot from it that I hope to use in the classroom immediately. The "break" also came at a perfect time.  I was feeling a little overwhelmed at school trying to squeeze everything in and putting a lot of pressure on myself and having this time away from the classoom, a chance to step back and examine my practice a little more and talk it out with colleagues really helped me to process what I was feeling and approach my difficulties differently.

Another perk of the Symposium was that it was located in downtown Montreal! It was gorgeous weather while we were there (Tuesday night until Friday morning) and we made the most out of every free minute.  Shopping and dinner was high priority on the list of things to do while in Montreal and we did just that.  It was awesome to hang out with my friends and colleagues and have fun celebrating our time out in civilization together.

CONVEYOR BELT SUSHI (Odaki on St. Catherine's)

Perhaps thought the best part of the Symposium was that due to travel days we were given if we drove, Monika, Marsha and I were able to make it down south for a quick visit to Oakville before heading off to Montreal!!! So, on Friday after school we booted it to Matagami, stayed the night there, left early Saturday morning for Oakville and spent the next couple of days (it felt like hours) seeing family and friends.  I was able to see my whole family again and some nearest and dearest friends and it was a really lovely couple of days.  I was so happy to be able to see my sister Hilary one last time before she gives birth (any day now!!) and squeeze in some valuable family time.  I was also home in time to vote for the first time in many years so I am pretty happy about that and also happy about our foxy new Prime Minister hehe.  (#sorrynotsorry for all the Bobo pictures)

The drives to and from the south were uneventful in the "catastrophic accident" way but still typical.  Leaving Wemindji on the James Bay Highway we encountered stressful driving conditions as well as coming back but everywhere else we couldn't have asked for better weather and driving conditions. We drove Marsha's beautiful truck and I now realize I was born to dominate the roads in a Ford F150. Coming home last night however was somewhat of a nightmare and we pulled up to freezing rain and today it has pretty much been snowing non-stop.  When I finish writing this I will be heading to my basement to put away my deck chairs and bring up my shovels WAAAAHHHH. I'll be getting out my snowblower from my friend's shed this week too.  LIFE IS GOOD LIFE IS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD.  Prepare yourself for a winter of sarcasm and complaining.  Or just check back in with me in August when the snow finally melts.

In all it was a great week.  I love a good road trip with the girls and nothing beats a private swanky hotel room with a king bed all to myself!! Also, last week we were blessed with a new Justin Bieber song as well as 150 new emojis including a burrito and unicorn so I am on Cloud 9.

Anyways, this week will be busy busy busy in the classroom.  We are starting our pumpkin unit because 'tis the season.  Pumpkin everything - math, how-to texts, reading and writing.  I was lucky to get a cheap pumpkin in Oakville and a bunch of mini ones I have no purpose for other than that they are so cute.  Of course it is also Halloween and Friday will be all about spooky stuff and a Halloween parade at school!  So cute! I will not be an Oompa Loompa for Halloween because frankly it is the most unflattering costume I have ever put on my body as well I don't think the kids would get it.  So I have decided to be the "Money Flying Away" emoji since that pretty much sums up my life.

Enjoy highlights from my trip and ta ta for now!